The Arizona sentinel., 1887-10-15
DANGERS OF THE SEA.
Perils Encountered Upon the Stormy Main
 by Latter-Day NavigatOrs.

The modern song and story-makers are not as fond as were their predeces- sors of the olden time of referring to waves that run mountains high" ''crested pillows soaring above the maintop," and all that sort of thing. That kind of literature and ministry to the popular idea passed out with the big ships-disappeared from the ocean of reading matter, just as square-rig- ged craft of every description vanish ed upon the advent of ocean steam vessels, and are now scarcely to be found in any of their old haunts or sit- nations. The romance of the sea and it's navigation was inseparable from sails and rigging and hulls, which de- pended rather upon the skill of com mander than any powers afforded by inanim ate agencies for the safe and successful prosecution of voyage and venture.
 Nevertheless, the sea has not changed during all the years since creation. and the attributes of old ocean remain the same as when Paul the apostle made his coasting trips, or Columbus the discoverer set the ex- ample of long voyages. The winds roll up the waves in precisely the same manner to-day as in the days of Noah. Currents are as deceitful, lee shores as terrible, icebergs as dangerous. hurri- canes as formidable as when the navies of the earth wero in their in- fancy.
 And so it is that notwithstanding all the advances which man has made in the direction of overcoming the natural obstacles to navigation of the ocean, it still remains that he has not progressed in the least in most desirable ways and in matters of vital importance. For example: Fogs as an element opposed to marine operations. are not a whit less dangerous to-day than in the days when the great Admirals of the nations modelled their vessels upon the wash ing ''sea" will tear in pieces the mod- ern-built hull just as quickly and as completely as was the case when the Armada foundered.
 Collisions at sea are even worse now than in the olden time, for rates of speed are higher. and, when mistakes occur, they are sure to be more disas- trous than when simple order of things prevailed. In tle matter of se- curity against fire, the dividing of ships into compartments, whereby practically many hulls are made of one, and similar provisions against &C., cident or bad management, there is something to be said for human in- vention and discovery, but in many supreme points nature still hold an irresistible front.
 But the landsman's measure of the perils of the ocean is not very likely to represent that which affects the cap tain of the first-class 'liner" among steamships; nor is the estimate of dam ger of even the most experienced pas senger by any means sure to impress the veteran navigator equally. The one recognizes lurking mishaps in a fog, and is tried to the verge of endur- ance during its prevalence, while the other whistles carelessly because the sea is smooth and the winds are lulled. The captain notes with a concentration of apprehension the gathering of icebergs on every hand, well knowing that the slightest change in the weather or the sudden drawing of a curtain of mist may put him at his wits end in ex- tricating his vessel; and all the while his passengers delight in the sunshine gleaming from a thousand pinnacles, and the grOtesque marshaling of the unique army. The Captain, finding his craft in the midst of powerful tide- ways, and influenced by hidden cur rents, sees with awe and distrust that wind and waves are rising in conjunc- tion, and that the waters present more and more the formation, peculiar to the situation, of perpe ndicular walls, seemingly and actually ready to top pie over upon whatever opposes with an overwhelming force.
 These are not fancy pictures of pos sible dangers witch might confront the navigator, as exceptional experience in long career They are ever- present. practical situations. which the lransatlan tic steamship Captain must be familiar with, and in the midst of which he lives and works. That his vessel is propelled by steam power is something in his favor, which is almost neutralized by the fact that she is sure to be of size and propor- tions and to present difficulties in navi- gation far in excess of that which would be the case if she depended sole ly upon sails for propulsion. A break in machinery during a furious gale; contact of such bulk, be it ever so slight apparently with an iceburg; blind cruising under so tremendous re- sponsibility in the midst of dense fogs, sometimes for days; the decision of thousand questions which may arise, of what is best to be done or avoided the captains dread is not of the super- natural, the unusual. the extreme in waves, or storms, or gales, but of the ordinary evils of the sea, which are in- geDara ble from it's navigation and